Stalybridge 1842 General Strike

Located alongside the J R Stephens plaque on Stalybridge Town Hall frontage, this plaque commemorates the first general strike which originated in 1842 in this area.

It began as a movement of resistance to the imposition of wage cuts in the mills before it quickly expanded into a movement for universals male suffrage. It spread to involve nearly half a million workers throughout Britain and represented the biggest single exercise of working class strength in nineteenth century Britain.